BlockBefore

Organ, New Mexico

19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Las Cruces census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88052. It lies near Blair Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Organ quadrangle. 242 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,000 feet above sea level.

Organ within Doña Ana County

Population over time

2 figures

Organ fell from 323 to 242 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010323
2020242-81 (-25%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 19 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Photographs

1 photograph, 2021

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

A distant view of Tortugas, New Mexico, a community at the base of the Organ Mountain Range below Las Cruces
A distant view of Tortugas, New Mexico, a community at the base of the Organ Mountain Range below Las Cruces
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

35 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 35 fires within 5 miles of Organ between 1992 and 2019, burning about 7,521 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined12
Natural9
Recreation and ceremony5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Arson/incendiarism3
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
3 August 1998Natural5.0 acresLas Cruces Field OfficeS.RABBIT
25 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeHARVE
15 August 2003Naturalunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeAGUIRRE
10 August 1995Arson/incendiarismunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeSPOT
10 August 1995Arson/incendiarismunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeSOTOL
10 August 1995Arson/incendiarismunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeANVIL
8 July 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeMM 165
8 July 2009Smokingunder an acreLas Cruces Field OfficeMM 168

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Doña Ana County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 75 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 75 workings within 5 miles of Organ: 49 past producers, 11 prospects, 10 occurrences, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Silver, Copper, Lead, Silver, Silver, Lead. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ben Nevis MineSilver, Lead, Copper, Zinc, Bismuth, TelluriumPast ProducerChalcopyrite, Sphalerite, Tetradymite, Tetrahedrite
Billie H. & Dona LogaMolybdenumOccurrenceMolybdenite
Buck Deer ProspectCopper, LeadOccurrence1932
Cobre GrandeCopper, IronOccurrence
Copper Bullion and Cobre Grande ClaimsSilver, Copper, GoldOccurrenceChalcopyrite
ExcelsiorCopper, Zinc, SilverPast Producer
Excelsior MineCopper, Silver, Lead, Bismuth, Tellurium, ZincPast Producer1929
Gray EagleCopper, SilverPast Producer
Gray Eagle MineSilver, Copper, LeadOccurrenceCerargyrite, Chalcopyrite, Galena
Hawkeye MineCopper, Lead, Zinc, SilverPast Producer1850

Storms near this place

27 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Organ in 27 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 3 heavy rain, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2009Flash FloodOrgan$10,000Baylor Canyon Road and Dripping Springs Road were washed out.
July 2025Flash FloodOrgan-White Sands employees reported water running over Baylor Canyon Road south of Organ. There was also deep water over NASA Rd about 4 miles north of Organ.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindOrgan-A peak wind gust of 59 mph was recorded on an Ambient Weather station on Hawkeye Canyon Ct.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindOrgan-The San Augustin Pass recorded a peak gust of 63 mph.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindOrgan-The San Augustin Pass Mesonet station reported a peak gust of 94 mph at 515PM MST with gusts ranging from 64-94 mph between 5-530PM MST.
June 2024Thunderstorm WindOrgan-A wind gust of 65 mph occurred at the Dripping Springs Visitor Center for the Organ Mountains National Monument.
August 2022Heavy RainOrgan-A Dona Ana County weather gauge recorded 3.30 inches of rainfall.
August 2022Heavy RainOrgan-A Dona Ana County weather gauge recorded 4.48 inches of rain.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindOrgan-Reported at San Augustin Pass Mesonet site.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindOrgan-San Augustin Pass Mesonet station.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindOrgan-Marble sized hail also occurred along with 1.65 inches of rain within 15 minutes.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindOrgan-Recorded at the San Augustin Pass Mesonet site.
July 2020HailOrgan-Hail was accompanied by heavy rain which produced 1.19 inches in 15 minutes.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindOrgan-Wind gust measured at San Augustin Pass.
August 2014Heavy RainOrgan-A spotter reported 2.57 inches of rain near San Augustin Pass. Additional reports of over 2 inches were reported by CoCoRaHs observers into southeastern Las Cruces. The was one road closure on the New Mexico State University Campus at Arrowhead Drive.
July 2013HailOrgan-A spotter reported nickel size hail covering the ground.
July 2013Thunderstorm WindOrgan-The San Augustin Pass Mesonet site recorded a peak gust of 84 mph from the north due to a microburst. The peak wind occurred at 1243 pm MST with gussts to 60 mph through 1249 pm MST.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindOrgan-A 58 mph wind gust was reported 4 miles west of Organ at a New Mexico Environment Department Mesonet site.
August 2002Tornado (F0)Organ-A small tornado, most likely a landspout, was observed on the ground for 9 minutes south of U.S. 70 and northeast of the White Sands Missile Range Headquarters.
July 2014Thunderstorm WindOrgan-no account filed
May 2006HailOrgan-no account filed
May 2006HailOrgan-no account filed
July 2006Thunderstorm WindOrgan-no account filed
April 2004HailOrgan-no account filed
October 2004HailOrgan-no account filed
July 1998Thunderstorm WindOrgan-no account filed
May 1997HailOrgan-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Doña Ana County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Spaceport City5.1 miles17
Modoc (historical)5.7 miles18
White Sands6.9 miles11
Boyd7.2 miles18
Doña Ana11.8 miles15
Las Cruces12.4 miles15
San Ysidro12.5 miles15
University Park12.9 miles15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on OrganAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7101748The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 899827. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.